Billie Dowe HARRIS
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ARMY SERIAL NUMBER | O-682635 | |||||||
AGE | 22 yo | |||||||
DATE OF BIRTH | 1922 | |||||||
STATE | Jackson County OKLAHOMA | |||||||
FAMILY |
Married: Peggy | |||||||
RANK | 1st Lieutenant | |||||||
FONCTION | Pilot | |||||||
JOB before ENLISTEMENT | Unskilled machine shop and related occupations | |||||||
DATE of ENLISTEMENT | 11 may 1942 Dallas TEXAS | |||||||
SQUADRON | 355th Fighter Squadron | |||||||
GROUP |
354th Fighter Group | |||||||
ARMY | 19th Tactical Air Command | |||||||
9th Air Force | ||||||||
DATE OF DEATH | 17 july 1944 | |||||||
STATUS | KIA | |||||||
PLACE OF DEATH |
Forest - "La Pierre Courcoulée" Commune "Les Ventes" (Evreux) | |||||||
DONNEE de PLAN | P-51 Mustang - type D-5-NA - s/n 44-13328 GO "Mary Pat III" Macr: 7165 Mission: Evreux Takeoff: Ground A-2 Cricqueville (14) Flew in No. 3 of the White section Section hired by 50 Messerschmitt Me109 | |||||||
CIMETIERE COMMUNAL |
Cimetière Communal de Ventes | |||||||
CEMETERY TEMPORARY |
Cemetery Temporary of Blosville | Cemetery Temporary of Blosville | ||||||
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CEMETERY | NORMANDY AMERICAN CEMETERY de Colleville | |||||||
GRAVE |
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DECORATION |
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STORY | ||||||||
1st Lt Billie Harris was married to Peggy Harris on September 22nd, 1943.
However, their two-week honeymoon was cut short when Lt Harris was shipped out to fly escort in P-51 Mustangs.
He was shot down over the town of "Les Ventes" on July 17th, 1944.
Seeing he was about to crash into the town, the villagers feared for their lives, but Harris managed to divert the plane into the forest, saving lives even in death. The Resistance spirited his body into hiding and held a funeral for him with the town in attendance.
His grave was covered knee-deep with flowers.
The town held a yearly service for him for the following six decades, even when his body was moved to the Normandy cemetery, as they thought he had no relatives to tend to his grave.
Processions are held three times a year and a town square was named after him.
As for his widow, a bureaucratic snafu had kept her in the dark. First, he was reported as missing and then, alive. She was subsequently told that he had died, before learning that the remains that had been found were not his.
In 2005, Harris wrote to her congressman, Rep. Mac Thornberry of Texas.
He replied, saying that her husband was "still listed as 'missing in action.'" Finally, her cousin Alton Harvey cracked the mystery when he requested Billie's military records and found out he had been buried in Normandy since 1948.
Peggy Harris, who never remarried, now pays annual visits to the town that has kept her husband’s memory alive for over half a century.
Plaque in honor of Billie D HARRIS |
INFORMATION & PICTURES SOURCE | fr-41416.sfglobe.fr - Aerosteles.net - Uswarmemorials.org - Aad.archives.gov - 354thpmfg.com - Aerosteles.net |
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PROGRAMMER | Frédéric & Renaud |